Harry and James
by flyin'rabbit
Summary: Years after the Final Battle, miracles still happen. A certain red-haired woman's sudden arrival in St Mungo's is definitely one of them. AU.
1. Waking up

**A/N**: Hi! :) Thanks for clicking this story! Just so you know (and trust me, I know this too), this is an AU story, so it's not canon. In fact, it cannot be canon, for reasons you'll notice along the way. Lily is alive in this story, and I know that probably doesn't make much sense. Just bear with me, please :) /rant  
Hopefully you'll enjoy the story anyway!

**Disclaimer**: I don't own the world of Harry Potter.

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It was seven years after the Final Battle now, and a lot had changed in the wizarding world. Everyone had gotten closer and people who thought only Purebloods should be allowed to be part of the wizarding world had become scarce. But still, there were some unexplained miracles.

One day, on a rainy day in February, a middle-aged, red-haired woman appeared in St Mungo's, astoundingly confused, a bit thin, but seemingly healthy. The Healers gave her a thorough check-up, but absolutely nothing was wrong. It was only when they asked her some questions that they became completely baffled.

"Excuse me, madam, could you tell us your name?" She tried to open her eyes, and found, for the second time in what felt like ages, that she actually could. Looking around, she noticed that she was surrounded by a number of Healers and other staff.

She looked the person who had asked the question in the eye and answered, "Lily Potter." The other people in the room started muttering immediately as she said this, staring at her incredulously.

"Sorry, but could you repeat that, please?" the obviously shocked Healer asked.

"Lily Potter," she repeated. _Why are they all staring at me like that?_ she wondered.

The Healer sighed. "And could you tell me what year it is? What are the last things you remember?"

Lily thought the question over for a minute. "The last thing I remember… a flashing green light. And – Harry! Oh Merlin, is he alright?" she asked anxiously, almost grabbing the Healer standing closest to her by his uniform.

The mumbling continued, but now more pressing, it seemed. "He's quite alright, I can assure you, madam," the Healer who had been speaking to her all this time told her. "But do tell me, what year is this?"

Lily opened her mouth and then closed it again. _What if I say something stupid?_ she thought to herself. She took a deep breath, and said, "I think it's 1981." Seeing everyone looking at her as if she had grown a second head, she recoiled slightly. "It isn't? Er – 1982, then?"

The two Healers who stood closest to her exchanged a swift look. "Actually, madam, it's 2005."

"You're kidding," Lily said. "You're kidding, right? No, no, that can't be right. That can't be – "

She climbed out of her bed hastily and ran towards the door. Fortunately, it wasn't locked. She opened it and started running down the halls, looking for the exit. This had to be a very bad dream. The Healers followed after her, but since she had caught them of guard by running away, she managed to get them off her tail.

Many stairs, elevators, hallways and wards later, Lily was exhausted. She almost started to wish she had just stayed in that bed. She glanced up at a sign. It said that this was the maternity ward. Great. She hadn't been there yet.

Slipping through the doors of this ward, she looked around. There was no one there, by the looks of it. Deeming that impossible, Lily walked on. Passing by a window, she saw that there were a couple of babies asleep in there. One baby in particular caught her attention, and her eyes widened.

"Harry!" she shouted. What her precious little boy was doing at the maternity ward was a riddle to her. But at least she found him. "Harry!" she shouted again, and by now, some Healers had come out of their office to see what was going on.

"Isn't that – " one of them whispered.

"Yeah, I think so," another whispered back.

"Let's get her – " the third said a little louder, and the three of them advanced on her, grabbed her and tried to carry her off.

"No! Let go of me! Harry! No! My baby! Let me – " Lily yelled at the top of her lungs. She kicked around wildly, but the Healers wouldn't let her go.

Suddenly, another door opened, revealing –

"James!" Lily cried. "James, don't let them take me away, what's going on? I just saw Harry, and – "

The man just stood there, flabbergasted, as the Healers brought Lily back to the room she had managed to escape from earlier. She was now more than exhausted; she felt like she could collapse any second now. Yet she still felt some sort of handcuffs nail her to the bed and she shook them angrily.

"What is this?" she protested weakly. "Why are you pinning me to this bed? Why am I not allowed to see my husband and my son?"

A Healer stepped forward with an expensive looking device in his hands. Another Healer pulled out one of her hairs and together, they started doing all sorts of difficult calculations with the device, occasionally glancing at her as if she would run away again.

"Do you think – "

"But that's impossible – "

"There has to be – "

"There's not other explanation."

"An explanation for what?" Lily asked, yawning.

"You are Lily Potter," one of the Healers said. "This device says you are, and it's never wrong. The only other explanation could be Polyjuice potion, but that's impossible too, seeing as Lily Potter has been dead for twenty-three years."

"Dead?" Lily repeated. "I'm not dead."

"That we can see, madam," the Healer said. "But can you tell us what happened when you woke up? Something… strange?"

"No, nothing was wrong," Lily answered. "It felt like I had been sleeping for more than one night, yes, but other than that…"

The men nodded. "And where were you when you woke up?"

"I have no idea," Lily replied, now very tired. "I didn't recognise the place. It was dark there, and cramped… So I apparated here."

"I think she's telling the truth," one of the Healers told the other one. "But that still doesn't explain why and how she woke up, and why she woke up _now_."

"When exactly is 'now'?" Lily asked.

"The 10th of February, 2005, madam."

"So I've really been out of it for… over 23 years?" Lily asked incredulously. "Is that even possible?"

"You probably were never really dead," one of the Healers said carefully. "It's impossible to wake from death but… whatever happened to you, I don't think _anyone_ will ever be able to explain it."

"And now?" she asked.

"Now, you are going to sleep. You look like you need it. We will be back when you wake up."

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**A/N**: So, what do you think so far? Let me know, please review!


	2. Realisations

**A/N**: Alright, second chapter! I'd like to thank everyone who has read, reviewed, or favourited this story so far, it really means a lot! Hopefully you'll continue to like this :) Enjoy the chapter!

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When Lily woke up, she was all alone. She didn't mind though; whatever was going on was enough to cause her some serious stress. She had been presumed dead for 23 years? How was that possible? And what was she supposed to do now? What had happened to her family?

Closing her eyes, Lily tried to recall the last things that had happened before she had, apparently, slept for 23 years. 23 years! She had been 21 when she was last seen alive, she had to be 45 now, she had slept for more than half her life!

_A scream. High pitched laughter._

_Voldemort_.

But why hadn't he killed her, like – James. He was dead.

Even though Lily knew that she must've been aware of this before he attacked her, it only hit her now. James was dead. _Dead_. For a moment, she couldn't breathe. She felt completely numb. And now? What was she supposed to do without him? Without James, without Harry?

But what had happened to him, her son? Lily was fairly sure that after killing her, Voldemort must've gone ahead and killed Harry as well. After all, Harry was whom he had been after all along. The Healers had said that Harry was alright – but how could he be? And why had she seen Harry and James earlier, then? She shook her head. It had probably been a dream, some sort of… illusion. They were both dead. There was no other option.

So that meant that she was all alone now. There was nobody left, except, perhaps, Petunia, but Lily didn't exactly feel like visiting her sister. She was sure that that wouldn't do any good.

Feeling lost, Lily fell back onto her pillow. Why couldn't she just have stayed dead, then?

Lily didn't know for how long she had been awake before a Healer finally came. Upon seeing that she was up, he told her he'd be right back, and when he did, he brought some colleagues and (to Lily's joy) some food.

"It's good to see you awake," he informed her. "There are some things we'd like to ask you. For instance," he said, glancing at the tray of food, "how did you survive all this time without eating? Drinking? What happened? What's the last thing you remember?"

"Voldemort," she said simply. The last question was the only one she knew the answer to. In all honesty, she had hoped that they would answer some of her questions, instead of the other way around.

"And?" the Healer pressed.

Lily grimaced. "I don't know. I mean, for all I know it's still 1981 and you're just pulling my leg with it being 2005." She looked at them suspiciously.

They all exchanged a look. "Alright, then. What do you want to know?"

"What happened?" Lily said, repeating one of the Healers' earlier questions. "What happened after Voldemort 'killed' me?"

"Er – " They exchanged a look again. "You know, I think I know someone who's in a better position to answer all your questions," one of them said, looking pointedly at his colleagues.

More glances. "Do you think – "

"It would be possible – "

"Would he be up to it?"

"It's not really a good time for – "

Once again, Lily had no idea what they were talking about. "Maybe we could just ask?" the Healer who had obviously come up with the idea said. "If it's really a bad time, then we can tell her anyway, right?"

With one last glance at Lily (she almost thought they had forgotten about her being there altogether), they filed out of the room, leaving her alone once more. Lily took the opportunity to eat something, although now that there was food, she found that she wasn't very hungry.

It wasn't long now before one of the Healers came back. "It's alright, they want to see you," he informed Lily, as if she knew exactly what and whom he was talking about. "You can get out of your bed, right? Come on, I'll bring you over there."

Lily was surprised when she was brought to the place where her journey had ended yesterday: the maternity ward. She was led towards the end of the hallway, to the family room, where a small group of people was sitting. She didn't know any one of them.

Unsure what to do know, she turned towards the Healer, only to find that he'd left already. Then, she felt a tug on her hand and she looked down at a small boy who could be no older than seven, smiling up at her.

"Hi," he said, grinning widely. "I'm Teddy, and you?"

By now, the other people had noticed her standing there as well. A red-haired woman walked over to Lily, when another woman called, "Teddy, stop bothering this lady."

Lily looked towards the source of the voice, and blinked. She did know that woman, but Lily hadn't figured out yet why she was here, and why Lily was supposed to talk to her (she assumed). While little Teddy obediently walked back towards one of the couches, the red-haired woman suddenly embraced Lily as if they had known each other their entire lives.

"Lily Potter," she said happily, "I've heard so much about you. It's great to finally meet you!"

Over the woman's shoulder, Lily glanced at the other people in the room. Besides Teddy and… Andromeda Tonks – there were two red-haired men and a young woman, all of whom Lily didn't know.

"Uh – thanks?" she said, when the other woman finally let go. "But – everyone thought I was dead before now, so…" Not knowing what she was actually trying to say, Lily made a few uncertain hand gestures before letting her arm fall limply to her side.

The woman smiled at her. "That makes it all even better, don't you think? I'm Molly Weasley."

Oh right. Lily had heard of the Weasleys, she just didn't know them personally. Until now, of course. "Uh – hi, nice to meet you!" This was awkward.

"And this," Molly said, ushering Lily towards the other people, "this is my husband, Arthur, my youngest son, Ron, his wife Hermione, and Andromeda Tonks and her grandson Teddy."

"Alright," Lily said hesitantly. "But – why are you all here? Why am I here?" She couldn't really think of any reason as to why the Weasleys, Andromeda Tonks and her grandson, and she, Lily, were required to be at the same place at once.

"HARRY!" Teddy suddenly yelled, flying past Lily towards the door. Lily looked behind her, at the man whose arrival the little boy was so enthusiastic about. _Oh Merlin_, she thought. It was the man she had thought to be James earlier, but she only had to take one look at his eyes to realise that this was not her husband…

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**A/N**: Well, what do you think so far? As always, let me know, please review!


	3. 23 years

**A/N**: Chapter three, everyone! Hopefully you'll enjoy it :)

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"Hey, Teddy," the man greeted the little boy as he picked him up. Teddy started babbling happily, but Lily didn't hear a word he said. She could only stare at the man Teddy was clinging onto. _That's impossible_, she thought to herself. She had managed to convince herself of the fact that both James and Harry had died that night, even though the Healers had told her that Harry had survived. She hadn't been able to believe them until now.

She woke up from her reverie as she was pushed out of the way by everyone else in the room. "How are they?" Molly Weasley asked anxiously. "Are they alright? Can they come home soon?"

Harry smiled. "Yes, they're alright now. Ginny's asleep though." This seemed to calm them all down.

"And look who's here!" Molly told Harry, gesturing towards Lily, who could feel her eyes widen. She understood that the other woman had to be bursting from excitement, but she would've liked some more time to prepare for this.

For a minute, nobody spoke. Lily was just looking at him; looking at her son, whom she hadn't seen for over 23 years, although it felt like yesterday that he had been a little baby. Harry looked a little startled, and Lily couldn't blame him. She suspected that he hadn't believed the Healers when they told him she was alive. She knew she wouldn't have believed it. Finally, Harry broke the silence.

"Mum?" he asked uncertainly. "Is that really you?" He put Teddy down and took a hesitant step in her direction.

"Harry?" Lily whispered in return. As he nodded, she said, "Yeah. It's really me." Before she knew what was happening, she was being hugged by her now fully grown son.

"I can't believe this," he whispered, and Lily full heartedly agreed with him. "How is this possible?" he asked after letting go of her. Everyone's eyes were now on Lily.

"I don't know," she said feebly. "I just feel like I've slept for a very long time, and when I woke up, I panicked, and disapparated, and ended up here… They have no idea what happened, why I'm not – dead."

"That's odd," the young woman with brown hair (Hermione?) said. "It's almost unbelievable. How do they know you're not just impersonating her?"

The man next to her groaned. "Hermione, please. She just came back from death and you're already bombarding her with questions."

Hermione rolled her eyes. "You can never be too sure of things." She looked back at Lily expectantly.

"Because that wouldn't make any sense?" Lily tried. "Besides, Polyjuice Potion wouldn't work, because the person you want to impersonate has to actually be alive to use it. Otherwise the hair or whatever you use for the potion would be too old or dead as well. You'd end up almost dead yourself."

The man next to Hermione snorted and said to Harry, "I suddenly understand why Slughorn was so keen on her. She really is a Potions genius, even after 23 years of being out of it!"

Harry shook his head, smiling a bit. Lily took the silence as an opportunity to ask a general question to all of them. "Could someone tell me what's going on here? Why are we – you – all here?"

It was Harry who answered the question. "My wife just gave birth, and there were some complications. Nothing too serious, but they had to stay here for a little longer than usual."

"Your wife?" Lily was close to tears now. Her little boy was married, he had a child of his own already – it was surreal. She couldn't believe it.

Harry gave her a sad smile, as if knowing what she was thinking. "Yeah," he said softly, "but everything's alright now." Lily nodded numbly. Of course, she couldn't expect that nothing had happened or changed in the 23 years she had been 'dead'.

"And all these people?" she asked, looking around at the people who were obviously listening to their conversation, even though they were acting like they weren't.

"Well," Harry started, ruffling his hair in a nervous way (and making Lily think of James, no matter how hard she tried not to), "Teddy here is my godson, and Andromeda is his grandmother – " Lily thought very hard, but she couldn't really see the bond between Andromeda Tonks and Harry – she had to make sure to ask about that later. "Molly and Arthur are Ginny's parents – that's my wife, Ginny – and Ron and Hermione are my best friends."

"Oh," was all Lily could say at that. She would definitely need some time to process all this information.

"I suppose you want to know what happened these past years?" Molly asked after a while. As Lily nodded weakly, she added, "Let's sit down, alright?"

"Molly," her husband interrupted, "why don't we go check on Ginny, so Harry can stay here and talk?"

After they had left, Andromeda excused herself as well, saying that it was already far past Teddy's bed time, and however much the little boy pleaded with her and Harry, she was unrelenting. Telling him that they would come back tomorrow, they left as well.

"So," Harry said, turning to Lily, "what do you want to know?" Lily just shook her head; she honestly had no idea where to start. She wanted to know _everything_, but she knew that that would be too much for this moment.

"Just start at the beginning, Harry," Hermione, the woman who had doubted Lily earlier, said. "It's going to take a long time, but you don't have to tell everything _now_, right?"

"Right." Harry licked his lips, probably wondering how exactly to begin. "After you… died, Voldemort tried to kill me, but he couldn't…" He trailed off and turned to his friends. "But if she didn't die, how could he still not kill me? If it was supposed to be love and sacrifice that kept me alive? And I saw her at the graveyard in fourth year and – " He trailed off, looking at his friends, sounding quite confused.

Ron and Hermione exchanged a glance. "That's a good question," Ron said slowly. "Maybe it was the thought of her dying for you that counted? Maybe nature surprised itself by making her come back to life?"

Hermione shot him a look that clearly said that she thought he'd lost his mind, but she didn't speak up, so Harry continued. "He – Voldemort – disappeared. But now he's really dead."

Feeling relieved to hear this, Lily smiled a little. "And what about you, Harry? Did you live with Sirius? And how did Voldemort die in the end, then?"

"I killed him," Harry said softly; Lily almost thought she didn't hear him correctly. "I had to, because of the Prophecy."

"And Sirius?" Lily pressed. "Or Remus?" Most of her own Hogwarts friends had passed in the First War, and that had made her feel quite uncomfortable.

Harry was silent for a moment. Then, all of a sudden, he blurted out – "They're dead too. I'm sorry."

"Dead?" Lily asked, surprised. How could they be dead? How could all four of them be dead? She didn't know whether Peter was still alive, but he'd better be dead, as far as Lily was concerned. "How – when – ?"

"Sirius was killed at the end of our fifth year," Hermione answered for Harry. "And Remus was murdered in the Final Battle, two years later."

Lily felt numb. How could everyone be dead? She was alive now, but all the people she had once been surrounded by were dead, gone. Once again, she found herself wondering why _she_ wasn't dead anymore, then. "And before they were killed?" she asked. "Did they have a nice life up until that point?"

They exchanged another glance. "That depends," Harry said slowly, "on how you would define a nice life."

Lily just stared at him at first. "Alright, then. And what about you, Harry? What's your life been like?"

"Hectic," Ron promptly said. "Just like everyone's life would be if Voldemort would try to kill you every year."

"Ron, she didn't ask you anything," Hermione told him sternly.

"He's right though," Harry said, staring down at his hands. "It was very hectic, especially while I was at Hogwarts. It's actually crazy how calm my life has been these past few years, after he was defeated."

"And before Hogwarts?" Lily asked, knowing that he had evaded the question earlier.

"I don't think you want to know," Harry muttered, but Lily wouldn't budge. "Alright. I was sent to the Dursleys."

Lily felt her eyes almost popping out of their sockets. "The _Dursleys_? But – why? Why couldn't Sirius take you in?"

"That's a long story," Harry said. "But Sirius was pretty much framed by Pettigrew and then sent to Azkaban, so naturally I couldn't stay with him."

Feeling that this only got worse and worse, Lily kept firing questions at her son now, and he tried to answer them as well as possible. Occasionally, Ron would comment on something or Hermione would explain something more thoroughly, but they didn't interrupt too much, for which Lily was grateful.

It got later and later and at some point Hermione interrupted Harry's tale about the Tri-Wizard Tournament. "It's late," she said softly. Glancing at Ron, she added, "We should really go home."

Harry nodded. "Do you have any questions now?" he asked Lily. "Of course, you can come back tomorrow, but I guess they'll want you to go back to your room as well."

"Just one thing," Lily said, suddenly remembering what she had been meaning to ask earlier on. "How did you become godfather of Andromeda Tonks' grandson?" She didn't know Andromeda really well – in fact, Lily almost only knew that she had been Sirius' favourite cousin – but she didn't understand how that connected to Harry. "And – " she added in an afterthought, "where are Teddy's parents?"

"They're dead," Ron said before Harry had the chance to even open his mouth. Trying to find words to form a coherent sentence, Lily wanted to speak up, but she soon found that she couldn't.

Shooting an annoyed look Ron's way, Harry said, "They died in the Final Battle."

"And that connects you to them… how?" Lily asked when she finally could talk again. She had learned some time ago that her son was a master in evading tough questions – just like his father. She also knew that Andromeda had a daughter – who must've been Teddy's mother, then.

When Harry didn't reply, Hermione sighed. "Oh, for Merlin's sake, Harry." Turning to Lily, she explained, "Teddy's father asked Harry to be godfather." She shot Harry another exasperated glance, but he still wasn't going to talk. "Remus was his father."

This little piece of information caught Lily by surprise. Not because Remus had, apparently, asked Harry to be his son's godfather, but the fact that he had obviously… settled down, if one could call it that, and even have a son. She had thought that he would stay away from women his entire life, since he always thought he was too big of a danger for anyone really.

Suddenly, Harry stood up. "I'm going to check on Ginny now." Hesitantly, he addressed Lily. "Do you want to see your grandson for a moment?"

Nodding quickly, Lily followed him out of the door. Harry led her towards the same window she had seen earlier. Only this time, she knew that the baby she was about to see wasn't her son, but her grandson. It was so strange.

Looking through the glass at the sleeping baby, Lily smiled. "He really looks a lot like you when you were little, Harry. What did you decide to call him anyway?"

Harry shifted from one foot onto the other. "We've decided to call him James."

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**A/N**: Wellllll... what do you think? :) Liked it? Hated it? Only one chapter left, people! Let me know what you think, please review!


	4. Teddy and James

**A/N**: So, here's the final chapter :) For now, at least. Hopefully you'll enjoy this!

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Lily couldn't remember exactly how she got back to her room after that, but when she woke up the next morning, the first thing she remembered was Harry. And James. _James_. Of course, it was beyond sweet that Harry and his wife had named their first son after Harry's father – Lily's husband. At the same time, it made Lily start panicking for no obvious reason.

It had become clear the day before that she would always be reminded of her dead husband. Harry looked so much like him that it would be impossible not to. But now, her grandson would remind her of him as well. James. _James_. The name kept repeating itself in her head until it became too much. All Lily knew was that she needed to get out of her bed and go outside, breathe in some fresh air.

She knew that people might think she was overreacting – of course, it was fantastic that Harry had named his son after his father – but the thought, the knowledge was suffocating Lily. She wasn't planning on forgetting all about James – far from it; that wouldn't be fair to his memory. But was it too much to ask to be able to forget about him every now and then? She didn't want to be _constantly_ reminded of him. After all, they were a world apart now. With a son who looked too much like his father for his own good, and a grandson who was named after his grandfather, Lily was sure that she would be reminded of James every second of every single day.

She didn't even know whether she was allowed to go out, but she went anyway.

"Lily!" Stepping outside, Lily felt someone grab her arm. "Are you supposed to be here?"

"I – I don't know," Lily whispered, and before she realised what she was doing, she was crying, sobbing. All the things she had heard yesterday – it was overwhelming. She couldn't quite comprehend it all, but here she was, crying her eyes out, with nobody around but Andromeda Tonks.

Andromeda let her cry for as long as she needed; when Lily calmed down after a while, she looked up and smiled weakly at the other woman. "Sorry," she whispered. "I don't know where that came from."

"It's understandable," Andromeda replied. "You probably learned a lot last night. A lot has happened in the past 23 years. Nobody blames you if that's too much to handle at once."

"But – ," Lily started, then realised that she had no idea what she was going to say, "James…"

"He's dead," Andromeda said bluntly. "And you're going to have to learn to cope with that, Lily. Maybe not now, not tomorrow, but eventually, you'll have to. You can't keep hanging on to a memory. It's hard, I know, but you'll have to get through it."

"And now I have a grandson that'll keep reminding me of him every single day," Lily said, laughing humourlessly.

"You'll get used to it," Andromeda said. "After a while you'll also see that however much he is like your husband – he _and_ Harry – , they're all different people, with different personalities and everything. Neither of them is really James and although that means that neither of them will ever be fully able to fill the gap, it will make you able to see them and communicate with them without constantly thinking of your husband."

Lily looked at her with a questioning look in her eyes. It sounded as if Andromeda knew exactly what she was talking about here. Almost as if she was familiar with the situation. "How do you know?" she asked in the end.

Looking away, Andromeda sighed. "I know – " she began, and she closed her eyes, thinking. "I've been through this as well. I'm still going through this. It still hurts, but when time passes – it can heal, if only just a little bit."

"What do you mean?" Lily asked, not fully understanding what she was saying.

"Whom do you think my grandson was named after?" Andromeda asked her, looking straight at Lily now, a mixture of sadness and persistence showing in her eyes.

For a moment, both women were quiet. Then, Lily's head snapped up. "You mean – Ted? What happened to him?" Lily was strangely aware that they were talking as if they were old friends, or something alike. Yet she had never met Ted (or Andromeda before this), only heard of him.

"He was killed while he was fleeing from the Death Eaters," Andromeda said, and Lily remembered Harry telling her that all Muggleborns had been supposed to turn themselves in to the new Ministry that had been completely on Voldemort's side. Obviously, not all of them had done so.

"I'm sorry," she said softly. She suddenly felt horrible for acting as though she was the only person who had ever experienced this strange situation, but she knew now that she wasn't.

"It's not your fault. But I know what you're talking about. It's not easy seeing Teddy grow up, and every time I look at him, I see his parents, or Ted." Andromeda shook her head. "But like I said before – it'll heal in time. A little, not too much. But you shouldn't want it to heal completely."

"That wouldn't be fair to his memory," Lily finished, nodding.

"One thing you shouldn't do, is comparing them in everything. The more you do so, the more you will be disappointed if your grandson doesn't turn out to be like his grandfather at all. And once you realise that, it'll hurt even more. Just – embrace the fact that they are alike in some ways, but they are also different. Accept it."

Accept it. Lily knew that that would take some more time. Apart from this, she had also heard many other things last night, and she was sure to hear even more stuff like it. She couldn't say she was completely looking forward to it. All the things Harry had been through – it was horrifying. She couldn't accept those things just like that.

She nodded slowly. Now that she had been outside for a while, she realised that it was actually quite cold. It was better than the suffocating room she stayed in, but February still wasn't warm.

"Let's go back inside," Andromeda suddenly said. "I told Harry I'd be gone for only a minute."

Lily nodded again. "Yeah," she said, "let's go."

Neither of them spoke while they returned to the maternity ward. Lily still didn't know whether she was even supposed to be out of bed, but she figured that, might the Healers go on a search for her, the maternity ward would be the first place they'd check.

Upon arriving there, Ron, who came walking towards them as they approached, told them that Ginny was asleep again, but Harry was in the family room with Teddy and James. As he said this, Lily felt a sharp pain shoot through her heart, but she pretended not to feel it. She had to get used to this. She had to accept it.

Stepping into the family room, she was met by a sweet sight. Teddy was sitting on a couch, his arms supported by various pillows, holding James. A wide grin was present on his face as he looked down at his little god-brother. Harry was kneeling down next to the couch, most likely making sure that nothing would happen to either of them.

"He's so small," Teddy said with awe, staring at the baby's tiny fingers.

Harry smiled. "You know, Teddy, you were this small too when you were born."

Teddy stared at him disbelievingly. "No, that's impossible! I was never that small! Was I, grandma?"

Harry looked surprised to see them, and Lily, too, hadn't expected Teddy to have noticed them standing there. He seemed so preoccupied by James that she was surprised that he had seen them.

"Well, Teddy," Andromeda answered him, smiling, "I don't quite remember. You know, I think you were even a little smaller than James is now."

Teddy's mouth hung wide open as his grandmother told him this. He shook his head firmly, as if not believing it at all. "No," he protested, "I was always this big."

The adults in the room chuckled at this and Lily had to fight back the urge to express her sympathies for Teddy's mother. Suddenly, the baby started crying and Teddy yelped. Harry leapt up swiftly and took James from him.

"Make it stop!" Teddy shouted. "Harry, can't you turn him off?"

"I'm afraid he can't, dear," Andromeda said. "Come on, we'll go to the hall for a minute."

Teddy nodded frantically and almost ran out of the room. "Well," Harry said, looking amused, "he'll have to get used to it some time…"

"He just needs a little time to adjust to it," Lily said, and she realised what she had said only after the words had left her mouth. Harry smiled, obviously understanding what she was thinking about.

"Do you want to hold him?" he asked; James had calmed down again by now. After hesitating for a second, Lily nodded. The sooner she was used to this, the better.

Although she knew it had been 23 years since she held Harry, to Lily, it seemed like yesterday. And with his eyes closed, she almost saw no difference between Harry and James. She smiled to herself. It would be tough, but she could make it through the pain and the heartache. She was sure of it.

* * *

**A/N**: So, what do you think? :) I'm sorry for the people who were hoping for a meeting between Lily and Ginny, but that's not for now. Perhaps I'll add it some time in the future, but first I would need to be inspired to write such a meeting, I'm afraid. As for a meeting with Petunia - that would be a great idea, if it wasn't for the fact that I would like to keep this story within St Mungo's, and there's no way Petunia would go there ;)

Anyway, let me know what you thought about the chapter/story, please review!


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